Common Talk Weeklyshuang yu zhou kan
issue date

A night of music sharing
December 10, 2003
By Zhou Fei
Photos by Jason

 中国人唱外国歌，外国人唱中国歌;
除了拼歌艺，还要拼外语，拼记忆，拼各国“亲友团”…
由厦大海外教育学院和外文学院共同主办的卡拉OK大赛，
火爆登场了！

A Chinese love song performed by Indonesian students
After a preliminary trial, twenty contestants gathered in the Overseas College Auditorium on the evening of Nov. 29 for the final contest of the Foreign Language Karaoke Competition. With the support of the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures （厦大外文学院） and the Overseas Education College at Xiamen University （厦大海外教育学院）, the contest this year celebrated its third anniversary.

More than 60 contestants, including 24 foreign students signed up, making a record number of competitors. Both the Chinese and foreign contestants were required to sing in a language other than their mother-tongue, which was a great challenge to all. There were Chinese songs from foreign students and English, French, Russian, Italian and Japanese songs from Chinese undergraduates. So the contest was really an international get-together.

One of the most impressive performers was the freshmen group from Zhangzhou Campus. Four handsome boys with charming voices brought us a song called "Seasons in the Sun". Not only could they sing but they also danced so well to the beat of the music that the audience cheered and clapped along with their performance. As the music ended, they rounded off their performance by wishing everybody happiness in three languages, English, Japanese and French. They were the hit of the night, especially with the girls.

If there was a prize for the contestant with the most courage, it would have been won by the Indonesian girl. Memorizing Chinese lyrics was a little too much for her and she could only remember the middle part of her song, which well demonstrated her talent for music. Nevertheless, she seemed unbeaten and held on to the end amid the cheering of the audience. She won the Encouragement Prize.

Another attraction of the night was the group from Overseas Education College. Four boys from European countries, all appeared in casual out-fits with flower-decorated straw hats which brought instant laughter from the audience. Their song "How Deep is Your Love" was great. Unfortunately the video machine didn't work so they couldn't read the lyrics. Though they had to hum now and then, they seemed to enjoy themselves, so in turn the audience enjoyed their music and performance.

Finally, the first prize went to Zhang Tingwei from Hong Kong and Wang Xiaojing from the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures. But as one of the judges said, the result was not important. What mattered most was that the contestants from home and abroad truly loved music and had shared their music with everybody.